Formula One: Max Verstappen cruises to victory at Styrian Grand Prix

Red Bull driver dominates from start to finish in Austria, finishing ahead of Mercedes duo Hamilton and Bottas

Red Bull's Max Verstappen celebrates after winning the Styrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria, on Sunday, June 27. AP

Dutch driver driver Max Verstappen on the podium after winning the race. EPA

Max Verstappen celebrates with his Red Bull teammates. PA

Red Bull's Max Verstappen. AFP

Mercedes' British driver Lewis Hamilton. AFP

Red Bull's Sergio Perez makes a pitstop on his way to securing fourth place. Getty

Lando Norris on his way to fifth place for McLaren. Reuters

McLaren's Lando Norris. Reuters

AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda ahead of Carlos Sainz's Ferrari. Sainz would eventually finish sixth, four places clear of Tsunoda. Getty

Alpine's Fernando Alonso finished ninth. AFP

Red Bull's Max Verstappen leads the way at the start of the race. PA

Two helicopters fly the flags of Austria and Styria over the Red Bull Ring before the race. AFP

Spectators watching the start of the race. AFP

Max Verstappen dominated the Styrian Grand Prix from start to finish on Sunday, extending his lead at the top of the title race.

The Dutchman led every lap at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg to take the chequered flag 35 seconds clear of Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes, with the Briton's teammate Valtteri Botas third.

Hamilton never threatened to challenge as Verstappen secured his second win in a week and fourth of the year, extending his lead in the drivers' championship from 12 points to 18 with Hamilton managing to secure a bonus point for fastest lap.

Verstappen's teammate Sergio Perez came in fourth while British driver Lando Norris was fifth for McLaren.

"You never know how it is going to end up but straight away I felt a good balance in the car," said Verstappen.

"It was good to manage the tyres from the start. They pitted one lap earlier than us, we reacted to that and we just kept on going, trying to hit our lap times – that worked really well today.

"That's really positive but we have to show it again next week. We'll definitely have a look as to what we can do better. I'm looking forward to next week.

"It's looking really good [for Red Bull]. We just have to keep pushing really hard and I'm confident we can do a really good job again."

Reigning world champion Hamilton admitted it was a mission impossible attempting to overtake the flying Red Bull after spending much of the race expressing frustration on his inability to cut into Verstappen's lead.

"It was a bit of a lonely race really," he said. "I was trying to keep up with those guys but, the speed they have – they've obviously made some big improvements. [It was] Impossible to keep up.

"They're faster, they're just faster. There's not a lot I can do in that respect. I've just got to keep trying to do the best I can do each weekend.

"We need to find some performance, we need an upgrade of some sort, we need to push. I don't know whether it's just the rear wing or whether it's the upgrade in the engine, but we've got to find some performance from somewhere."

Mercedes boss Toto Wollf insisted he was looking forward to analysing the race and finding a way for Hamilton to close the gap between him and Verstappen.

"It's been the first race in eight years where we were lacking pace," he said. "We have stopped developing for this year and we have to put our heads together and get the best out of that power unit.

"We are totally fired up. We were lacking pace but we will be doing the best we can and fighting back. We just didn't have the tools today to win – but the fight is not over."

After what has been a tense season of tight battles between Verstappen and Hamilton so far, there was very little to get the pulse racing in this race.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, though, did show tremendous fighting qualities to battle his way from last to a highly credible seventh-place finish, just behind teammate Carlos Sainz.

The Monegasque driver dropped to the back after damaging his front wing on the opening lap but produced a stirring attacking performance to work his way back through the crowd.

Completing the top 10 were Aston Martin's Lance Stroll in eighth, Fernando Alonso and Alpine taking ninth, one place ahead of AlphaTauri's Yuki Tsunoda.